Differences of cytotoxicity associated with exposure to different extracts of atmospheric particulate matters (PMs) are still not well characterized by in vitro toxicoproteomics. In this study, in vitro cytotoxicity assays and toxicoproteomic analyses were carried out to investigate toxic effects of PM collected using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filters extracted with acetone for PM2.1 and water for PM2.1 and PM10 on A549 human lung epithelial cells. The cytotoxicity assays based on cell viability, cell apoptosis and reactive oxygen species generation indicated that PM2.1 extracted with acetone had the highest toxicity. iTRAQ labeling and LC-MS/MS analyses indicated that the number of differentially expressed proteins in A549 cells affected by PM2.1 extracted with acetone was noticeably higher than that of the other two groups. Hierarchical cluster analyses showed that the influences of the extracts of PM2.1 and PM10 using water on the proteome of A549 cells were similar, whereas significantly different from the effect of PM2.1 extracted with acetone. Pathways analyses indicated that PM2.1 extracted with acetone influenced the expression of proteins involved in 14 pathways including glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, pentose phosphate pathway, proteasome, etc. PM2.1 extracted with water affected the expression of proteins involved in 3 pathways including non-homologous end-joining, ribosome and endocytosis. However, PM10 extracted with water affected the expression of proteins involved in only spliceosome pathway. The extracts of PM using different extractants to detach PM from PTFE filters influenced the cytotoxic effects of PM and the proteome of A549 cells. Therefore, extractants should be assessed carefully before the investigations on cytotoxicity to improve the compatibility of experimental results among research teams.
Keywords: Cytotoxicity; Different extracts; Particulate matters; Toxicoproteomics; iTRAQ.
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